Maybe one sign of a fully matured film industry is when it's capable of spewing out an Olympus Has Fallen and a White House Down at the same time – coinciding films with identical subjects. One of those little zeitgeist clots that suggest creative minds running in parallel, in a highly evolved community driven by the relentless background hum of close competition – and also, all those scripts passing between studios, with ample opportunities for intellectual-property theft. Mostly, these weird convergences seem to come in pairs: Deep Impact and Armageddon, A Bug's Life and Antz, and so on.

So what does it say about the emerging Turkish industry that it has six movies on the same subject either recently on release or imminent? The flood of films about Gallipoli – or the Battle of Çanakkale, as Turks more commonly call it – isn't precisely a coincidence, what with the centenary approaching in two years' time. But the extent of the clamour around the anniversary is still striking, with some directors opting to deploy their forces early for guerrilla strikes at the box office, before the commercial heavyweights of Turkish cinema can move in with their divisions.

Like the Gallipoli campaign itself, the early signs haven't been very promising. Çanakkale Cocuklari (Children of Çanakkale), released last September, hung the conflict on a story about an Australian-born Constantinople mother's fears about her two sons, who find themselves on opposite sides of the battle lines. Directed by industry bigwig Sinan Çetin, starring his Australian wife Rebekka Haas, it was "symbolism and reductionism galore", according to the Daily Zaman's Emine Yıldırım.

Next over the parapet in October was Çanakkale 1915, Yeşim Sezgin's awful treatment of the Ottoman resistance to the Allied landing, which ladles on sentimental nationalism instead of bothering to find a proper dramatic focus. It's especially big on earnest men in uniform lifting heavy objects: one key moment is the recreation of artillery gunner Seyit Çabuk's legendary feat of picking up three 275kg shells, allowing his unit to continue firing during the initial naval battle. It might not be so comic if virtually the same orchestra-garlanded backslap wasn't given to another soldier who lugs his wounded commander back to base on his shoulder a few scenes later. "When did everyone become so patriotic and ready to provoke the masses into absolutist valour?" asks Yıldırım of Çanakkale 1915.

But things are looking up. The $5m-budgeted Çanakkale: Yolun Sonu (Çanakkale: End of the Road), which had some involvement from Warner's local-language brigade, looks a little sharper on its feet with its Enemy at the Gates-style plotline about an Ottoman sniper (played by Gürkan Uygun from the US-baiting Valley of the Wolves franchise). Released in Turkey in March and the UK in April, it earned a thumbs-up for its seriousness from blogger Neil White at Every Film: "It addresses the dichotomy of those who are devoted to religion on one hand and are killing people on the other."

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The real players are due to unleash their efforts between now and 2015. Faruk Aksoy, director of Turkey's most expensive and successful film ever, last year's siege epic Fetih 1453, has Çanakkale Geçilmez (Çanakkale Shall Not Be Passed) en route – sure to be another monumental undertaking. Mahsun Kırmızıgül, the jack-of-all-trades singer, actor and producer responsible for international crossover Five Minarets in New York, has also been saving up for the pyrotechnics kitty. He's promising a $20m budget, which would break Fetih 1453's $17m record, for his 57'nci AlaY (57th Regiment) – about the outfit who benefited, prior to defending Anzac Cove, from Atatürk's famously to-the-point pep talk: "I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. In the time that it takes us to die, other forces and commanders will take our place."

And Çanakkale Içinde (In Çanakkale), from the veteran writer-director Serdar Akar (who also seems to have contributed to Çanakkale Yolun Sonu), is hoping to bring things full circle by reportedly roping in Mel Gibson – star of Peter Weir's highly rated 1981 Gallipoli – to play a British commander.

Six Gallipoli projects feels like about three too many. There are indications that campaign fatigue could be setting in already (Çanakkale: Yolun Sonu [$2.9m] has grossed less than Çanakkale 1915 [$4.2m]), and perhaps the weaker contenders would have been eliminated during the development process in a more seasoned film industry. On the other hand, the fact that Turkish cinema is going out all out for the anniversary is a credit to its unusual vigour and enthusiasm, which are still peaking. Eight of this year's top 10 films so far are homegrown, which represents the kind of buy-local commitment very few countries can boast. When Avatar spray-painted the global box office in late 2009/early 2010, it failed to get the No 1 spot in only two places: India and Turkey.

Local pride can easily tip over into nationalism, unfortunately, and the Çanakkale anniversary presents the perfect opportunity to cash in – as Sezgin's film does. Faruk Aksoy was criticised last year for his soft-soaping treatment of Ottoman strongman Mehmed II in Fetih 1453 – and a bombastic Gallipoli film from him, if that's what it turns out to be, will give further grist to those who believe he's forging a career as some kind of cinematic town crier for a geopolitically resurgent Turkey. Hopefully one of the returns to Çanakkale will take on more than the obvious, flag-waving viewpoint; one in six isn't bad odds on that.

• Next week's After Hollywood looks at a new back-to-basics approach to films about the globalised world. Which global cinematic stories would you like to see covered in the column? Let us know in the comments below.